Protective device for banks.



W. RAKOWSKI.

PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR BANKS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4, 1912.

1,065,626, Patented June 24, 1913.

2 SHEET3-SHEET1.

gums I W. RAKOWSKI.

PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR BANKS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4, 1912.

1,065,626. Patented Jun 24, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WLADISLAUS RAKOWSKI, OF DAVIS, WEST VIRGINIA.

PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR BANKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 24, 1913.

Application filed June 4, 1912. Serial No. 701,693.

T 0 at whom it may concern Be it known that I, lVLADrsLAUs RAKowsxr, citizen of Germany, residing at Davis, in the county of Tucker and State of West Virginia, United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Protective Devices for Banks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to safety appliances, and particularly to safety appliances for cashiers and like ofiicials who have charge of the paying out of money.

The main object of my invention is the pro-vision of means disposed in a bank or like establishment for the purpose of preventing the cashier, paying teller or like official from being held up by one with the desire of robbing the bank.

A further object is the provision of means disposed at the cashiers window for the purpose of detaining any one who intimidates, threatens or otherwise arouses the suspicion of the cashier or like official.

A further object is to provide means actuated by the official at the money window whereby the person falling under suspicion may be detained from escape, and whereby all danger of attack on the official himself may be eliminated.

A further object is to )rovide in this connection a shield or like cevice supported in front of the money window, which shield is adapted to be released and interposed between the cashier and the party in front of the window.

A further object 1s the provision of a very effective and simple means to this end which will not only insure the safety of the cashier, but will insure the detention of the suspicious person and which may be readily operated so as to prevent the escape of the person under suspicion until the arrival of the oflicers of the law.

A form of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is a perspective View of a partition wall in a bank or like otlice showing the paying tellers window and my safety appliance disposed in front thereof. F ig. 2 is a vertical section through the partition wall and the axis of the rotatable detaining device, the parts being shown in their normal position. Fig. 3 is a like view to Fig. 2, the axis of the detaining device, however, being shown in elevation and the parts being in the position which they occupy when the detaining device is locked. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the same lines as Fig. 2 but showing a modified form of shield-releasing mechanism. Fig. 5 is an under side fragmentary plan view partly in section showing the perforated nange 9.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, 2 designates the usual partition separating the rooms of the oflicials of a bank or like office from the public hall thereof. 3 designates that portion of the partition erected in"- mediately in front of the paying tellers cage, this partition being solid but being formed with the usual window 4 having a shelf 5. Extending up through the floor of the building immediately in front of the paying tellers window is a tubular member 6 which extends up slightly above the height of a mans head and is provided with the radiating wings 7 constituting radiating barriers. These wings are rigidly mounted upon the tubular member 6 and preferably are four in number, the space between any two wings being sufficient to accommodate a person. These wings are of such width that when the wings are in the position shown in Fig. l, the wings will prevent the passage of a person around the side edges of the wings adjacent to the partition 3. These wings are provided with rollers 8 resting upon the floor. The space defined by the barrier 7 is preferably covered by a roof 7, though this is not absolutely necessary. It will be seen that this construction pro vides what may be termed a plurality of rotatable doors or barriers held in fixed re lation to each other, and that normally these barriers are freely rotatable in the same manner as a rotatable door to permit the entrance of a person into the space in front of the paying tellers cage, and the ready exit of said person. In order to prevent the escape of a person who has threatened the cashier or paying teller, or of whom they are suspicious, the lower end of the tubular axis 6 of the door is formed with an outwardly projecting flange 9, this flange being formed with a plurality of perforations 17, as shown in Fig. Projecting down below the floor is a supporting member 10 to which is pivoted an angular lever 11, one end of which is turned upward and extends through a slot 12 in the floor and is then formed with a treadle 13, this treadle being located preferably immediately below the money window and in convenient position to the foot of an otiicial standing at the window. This lever is preferably guided by means of a guide lt which likewise extends down from the floor and is formed at its lower end with a slotted or bifurcated extremity through which the lever 11 passes. The outer end of the lever 11 as will be seen from Fig. 2, extends beneath the flanged end 9 of the tubular axis (3 and is formed with a disk-shaped terminal 15 having upwardly directed pins or teeth 16 which when the foot treadle is forced downward, are adapted to be forced upward through the perforations 17 in the flange 9 and thus hold the tubular axis (3 from any rotation. it will be seen that the flange 9 and the member 15 constitute two members of a clutch. It latching device is also provided upon the floor of the paying tellers o'tlice adapted to engage the foot treadle 13 and hold it in its depr ssed position. AS illustrated, this latch consi ts of a strip of metal d 'gnated 18 reflexcd upon itself as at. 19 and then extended toward the partition The extremity of the foot treadle is formed with a downwardly projecting curved hook 20 which is adapted to engage over the retlexed portion 19. it will thus 1 e seen that when the treadle is depressed, the hook will enover this latch and the lever will be held with its teeth in engagement with the flange 9. The operation of this part of my invention will be obvious. If the cashier, paying teller or other otlicial at the window l is suspicious of the person standing before the window, either because of any irregularity in the persons conduct or because of intimidations or threats, he depresses the foot treadle, thus throwing up the terminal 15 and engaging the flange 9 so as to prevent any rotation of the wings or barriers 7. \Vhen the wings or barriers are locked from rotation, it will be seen that the party standing in front of the cashiers window is imprisoned and can not move in any way or escape through between the wings. It will also be obvious that the depression of the treadle may be made without making any motion which will alarm the person standing be fore the window, and that further the treadle may be released if desired without the person standing before the window knowing that the barriers have been locked and then unlocked. The barriers may be made of any suitable material but should be strong and rigid enough so as to with- While the barriers may be stand assault.

solid, they are preferably made either of an open construction or with windows so thata person standing before the cashiers window may have plenty of light. it is obvious that the barriers might be made of plate glass properly reinforced. The barriers may either be roofed over, or be made high enough to prevent the party inclosed from climbing over the barriers. The barriers are slotted as at 21 so as to accommodate the shelf and thus permit the barriers to nearly contact with. the partition 3 when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1. W here the cashier, paying teller or other official is threatened or held up by the party standing in front of the window, some means must be provided to protect the cashier and prevent his being shot. For this purpose, I provide a bitillet-proof shield designated 22 and mounted in. guides 22 on the inside face of the partition 3. This shield is normally supported immediately above the window 4 and is adapted to be dropped by the cashier upon a depression of the treadle 13. As a means for supporting and releasing the shield 22, 1 provide the shield with a bail 23 which is loosely supported over the inner end of a latch 24. This latch is pivoted upon a transverse pivot pin 25 disposed as illustrated in Fig. 1 in a transversely extending slot 26. Intersecting this slot 26 is a vertical slot 27. The latch 24; is mounted upon this pin 25, and surrounding the pin 25 is a. coil spring 28 which acts to urge the inner end of the lever upward to the position shown in Fig. 3. It will be obvious that when the latch 24; is thrown up 'ard to the position shown in Fig. 3, the bail 23 will slip off the inner end of the latch and the shield 22 will fall. The latch is normally held in place by a lug 29 havin an inwardly beveled outer face as illustrated in Fig 2, this lug being formed upon the upper end of a tubular member 30 which is supported by means of a. brace 31 and which extends down into the tubular axis 6 and serves to support the upper end of this tubular axis. The latch 2i is provided at its extremity with a hook which engages over the beveled face of the lug 29, and when so engaged, the latch is held downward. This hook 32 is resilient so that it resiliently engages the lug 29 and yieldingly holds the latch 24L in place.

As a means for raising the latch 2% from its engagement with the lug 29, I provide the centrally disposed rod 32-5 which is vertically shiftable within the tubular member 6 and which is supported by spiders filitached to the interior face of the tubular men her 6. The upper end of this rod 33 is flattened and enlarged so as to form av disk resting upon the upper end of the tubular member 30 and immediately beneath the latch 24-. The lower end of the rod 33 engages with the terminal 15. It will be seen that when the terminal 15 is in the position shown in Fig. 2, the disk 35 will rest flat upon the upper end of the member 30, but that when the treadle 13 is depressed, this rod 33 will be raised and will disengage the hook 32 from the lug 29, freeing the latch 24 and permitting the spring to rotate the latch to the position shown in Fig. 3, releasing the shield 22 which will, of course, drop to the position shown in Fig. 3. This shield as before stated is bullet-proof and will absolutely eliminate any danger to the cashier or other oflicial.

In Fig. 4 I show a modification of the means for releasing the shield. As illustrated in this figure, 36 designates the partition wall having therein the window 37 provided with a shelf 38. 39 designates the shield vertically slidable in guides 40 arranged on the inside of the partition. The wall immediately above the window 37 is vertically slotted as at 41, and disposed in said slot is a latch 42 pivoted at its middle upon the pivot pin 43 and having its outer end upwardly turned while its inner end is formed in a downwardly extending hook 44. The shield 39 is provided with a bail 45 adapted to be engaged by the hooked end 44. Disposed in guides on the outside face of the partition is a connecting rod 46 which extends down and around the window 37 and is formed at its lower end with an inwardly extending terminal member 47 constituting a treadle. This terminal member extends through a slot 48 formed in the partition 36 beneath the window 37. It will be obvious that when the treadle 47 is depressed, the connection 46 will be drawn 40 downward, thus elevating the hooked por- 5 invention, it will be understood that it may be modified in many ways and that I do not wish to be limited to any particular arrangement of actuating and releasing levers or latches as these may be modified and changed to suit the circumstances of any individual case.

It will be obvious that in addition to preventing the escape of parties of whom the official is suspicious, or who have at- 50 tempted to rob the bank, the rotatable barriers are convenient in that they prevent any crowding at the cashiers window, and that each person immediately in front of the cashiers window is separated from the persons following in line, thus minimizing the danger of robbery which often occurs at the cashiers window. Furthermore, it gives a certain amount of privacy not present where my device is not used. My reason for providing means whereby the protective mechanism may be operated by the foot of the ofiicial, is that thereby the official may operate the device without any telltale movement.

My construction is exceedingly simple, may be made distinctly ornamental and is thoroughly practical.

lVhile I have illustrated my invention as applied for the protection of banks and like offices, I wish it distinctly understood that the invention might also be applied for use in other situations. Thus it might be applied to the doors of railway cars, as for instance the doors of baggage cars or mail cars to prevent robberies thereof.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a wall having an opening, of a tubular rotatable member, radiating barriers carried by said rotatable member, a flange forming one end of the rotatable member and provided with a plurality of perforations, a lever having one end extending into the space behind said wall and the other end extending to a position in alinement with said flange, said last named end of the lever being formed with terminal teeth adapted to engage in said perforations when the lever is depressed to hold the rotatable member and barriers from rotation.

2. The combination with a floor, a wall extending upward fro-m said floor and formed with an opening, of a rotatable tubular member extending through the floor and disposed opposite said opening, a plurality of radiating barriers mounted upon said tubular member and rotatable therewith, a terminal flange formed upon the lower end of the rotatable member below the floor and having perforations, supporting means for the upper end of the rotatable member, and an angular lever mounted below the floor having the inner end thereof projecting up into the space behind the said wall and constituting a treadle, the other end thereof extending in alinement with the tubular member and being provided with teeth engageable with the perforations in said flange.

3. The combination with a wall having an opening therein, of a rotatable member mounted before said opening, a plurality of radiating barriers disposed on said rotatable member, a lever, one end of which is adapted to engage the rotatable member to hold it from rotation when the lever is depressed, and means for latching the lever in its depressed position.

4. The combination with a wall formed with a window opening, of a rotatable support mounted in front of the window opening, a plurality of radiating barriers carried by said support, a locking member vertically movable into or out of engagement with the rotatable member, means disposed behind the wall for operating said locking member, a shield supported on the inside of the wall above said window but adapted to shift into position in front of the window, a latch supporting the shield in its raised position, a detent engaging said latch, and a member disposed below the latch and into position to be engaged by the locking member in its vertical movement into engagement with the rotatable member to force the latch out of engagement with the detent to permit the shield to drop.

The combination with a wall formed with a window opening, of a tubular rotatable member disposed in front of the window opening and carrying one member of a clutch, radial barriers supported on the tubular member, a lever extending beneath the wall and projecting on the inside face thereof adjacent to the window, said lever iarrying at its outer end the other member of said clutch, said last named member when the lever is depressed operatively engaging the first named member to prevent a rotation of the barriers, a shield disposed within the wall and normally supported above the window opening, a latch supporting said shield and projecting out through said wall and above the rotatable member, a detent detachably holding said latch in its latching position, and a member disposed within the tubular member at its upper end engaging said latch and at its lower end pro jecting below the tubular member into position to be engaged by the outer end of said lever to rel ase the latch from the detent upon a movement of the lever to lock the barriers.

(3. The combination with a all having a window opci'iing therein, of a revoluble tubular supporting member disposed in front of the window, radiating barriers carried by said tubular support and freely revoluble with the support to inelose a space immediately in front of the window, an op erating lever extending beneath the wall and having a member at its outer end adapted to lock the revcluble support from rotative movement when the lever is depressed, a member extending into the upper end of the tubular support and forming a bearing for the same. said member having a lug, a shield mounted within the window, a latch for supporting the shield, a spring acting to throw the latch into position to release the shield and allow it to drop, said latch having means for engaging the lug on said last named member, and a longitudinally shiftable rod disposed within the tubular member engaging at its lower end with the operating lever and adapted when raised to release the latch from its locked engagement and permit the window to fall.

7. The combination with a wall having a. window opening therein, of a central, rotatable support, a plurality of radially arranged barriers mounted on said support and guarding said opening, a shield disposed on the inside of said window, a latch holding the shield out of position before the window opening and when in its latching position disposed across the upper end of the tubular support, a lever and an unlatching member operatively engaged with the lever and extending through the tubular support and adapted to shift the latch to release the window.

8. The combination with a wall having a window opening therein, of a central, rotatable support mounted before said window opening, a plurality of radially arranged barriers mounted on the support and guarding the window opening, a shield disposed on the inside of the window, a latch holding the shield in a position out of register with the window opening, said latch having its outer end extended over the upper end of the tubular support, a detent on the tubular sup port engaging the latch, a lever having one end disposed on the inside of said wall and the other end disposed. beneath the axis of the tubular support, and an unlatching member shift ably mounted within the tubular support having its lower end in engagement with the lever, the upper end of the unlatehing member engaging the outer end of the latch whereby when the unlatehing member is raised by the lever the latch will be disen gaged from the detent and release the shield.

9. The combination with a wall baring a window opening. of a central, rotatable support, a plurality of radiating barriers mounted on said support and guarding said window opening, a shield mounted on the inside of the wall adjacent the window, a latch normally holding the shield in a raised position, a lever, and lever operated means operatively engaging the member to lock it from rotation and simultaneously engaging the latch to shift it to a position to release the shield.

10. The combination with a wall having a window opening, of a central tubular support rotatably mounted in front of said window opening, a plurality of radiating barriers carried tl ereby, a clutch member carried by the lower end of said support, a lever having one end thereof disposed behind the wall, a clutch member carried on the other end of the lever and engageable with the first named clutch member to lock the support from rotation, a shield op eratively mounted on the inside of the wall above the window but adapted to be shifted into position in front of the window, a latch holding the shield in a raised position, one port shall be locked and the outer end of the arm of the latch extending outward and lever raised to release the shield. 10 over the tubular support, and an unlatohing In testimony whereof I afliX my signature member disposed within the tubular supin presence of two witnesses.

port, the lower end thereof resting upon the WLADISLAUS RAKOWSKL [L. 8.] upper clutch member and the upper end Witnesses:

thereof engaging beneath the latch whereby STANISLOW PAOZOSA,

when the lever is operated, the tubular sup- YAN GLowAoKI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. i 

